CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Medical Center Foundation is developing a strategic plan to direct more than $244 million toward health care outcomes in Natrona County. To do that, it’s enlisted the direction of Meredith Benton who formally began her position as the Foundation’s CEO Monday.
When the land and assets of the Wyoming Medical Center were sold to Banner Health last summer, the Foundation ended up with about $244 million. That included $162.7 million of cash and market assets from WMC as well as $81 million total from Natrona County and Banner directly.
After the transaction closed last fall, the WMC Foundation transitioned from a nonprofit public charity to a nonprofit private foundation, said Beth Worthen, WMC Foundation chair. Worthen and Benton spoke to Oil City News Tuesday about the Foundation’s direction moving forward.
Under IRS regulations, the Foundation must invest 5% of its assets annually into the community, including to the WMC.
Before WMC’s sale to Banner, the Foundation’s role was to support the hospital. Now, the mission is to “support the delivery and accessibility of high-quality, efficient health care services throughout” the county, as well as “promote the overall physical and mental health and well-being of all of our county’s residents.”
This is typical of the “health conversion foundation” that the WMC Foundation has become, and after it was created last year the board began looking for a CEO to direct its assets toward that mission.
They then launched a nationwide search for a “strategic” and “innovative” leader. More importantly, Worthen said, they were looking for “someone who could really get out in the community, who was a listener, who was humble, and who was great at building relationships.”
They found Benton, who was vice president The Healing Trust, a health conversion foundation in Tennessee, specializing in programs and advocacy.
“Our advocacy work was primarily focused on the prevention and mitigation of adverse childhood experiences and on expanding health care access,” Benton said.
Worthen said the Foundation and Benton share a holistic vision of health care, looking to tackle “upstream” factors like poverty, housing, abuse, neglect, and other socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect public health.
For Benton, that approach is informed by personal tragedy. She became a widow at 33 after her husband, who had diabetes, suffered a fatal heart attack. Benton also has one family member who is in recovery from substance abuse and another whose health was impacted long-term as a result of childhood sex abuse.
“I think, in each of those three instances, if additional services and systems had been in place to meet each of those individual’s needs, our family trajectory would have been very different,” she said.
Worthen added that “Healthcare isn’t just an individual responsibility; it’s a community responsibility as well.”
A strategic planning process (including data collection) is currently underway to help Benton and the WMC Foundation determine what particular public health challenges face Natrona County and which existing assets can be leveraged to produce outcomes.
“I think we have a pretty comprehensive nonprofit community here,” Benton said, adding that she’s already engaged their leadership. She also commended WMC and the county’s existing health care infrastructure.
Worthen said Benton came to her interview already well-versed on matters related to Wyoming, Natrona County, existing nonprofits, and weather (which didn’t dampen her enthusiasm).
“I grew up in a town very similar to Casper just outside of Nashville,” Benton said, “so I love the feel, love the people, [and] love the outdoor amenities.”
However, despite over 12 years in international studies at Middlebury and Pepperdine University in California, Sunday was her first experience being in an earthquake.
